The 7th Sichuan Agricultural Expo will be held in Western China International Expo City of Chengdu during September 26~29, under the theme of "deepening the opening-up and cooperation and promoting the rural revitalization" with an exhibition area of about 60,000 square meters. As of now, countries (regions) such as New Zealand, Malaysia, Belgium, Thailand, Myanmar, Poland and Hungary are basically confirmed to participate in the Expo. Among them, the Netherlands will participate in the Expo this year and set up a national pavilion, so as to build a new platform for Sichuan-Netherlands agricultural cooperation to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chongqing will take the lead in organizing 6 enterprises to participate in the Expo this year, including Agriterra, CODEMA, Nutreco, Hotraco, Dorset Group, NAFTC and Agricultural Center, concerning various aspects including environmental treatment equipment for poultry, poultry feed, flowers and plants and agricultural cooperatives.

It is reported that Sichuan and the Netherlands are similar and complementary in agriculture. Since the 1990s, especially after Sichuan and Friesland of the Netherlands formally established the sister-province relationship in 2001, the two sides have maintained frequent high-level reciprocal visits, which have promoted the friendly relations between the two sides. Sichuan and the Netherlands have promoted practical exchanges and cooperation in multiple fields, such as potato, flowers, scientific and technological exchanges and capacity building of farmers' cooperatives.

In 2011, Liangshan Prefecture of Sichuan signed five cooperation agreements on flowers with famous flower enterprises, including Royal FloraHolland, Anthura and Van den Bos of the Netherlands, with the total amount reaching RMB 500 million. Through cooperation, we will highlight the construction of Liangshan Flower Industrial Park and strengthen industrial support to build the largest high-grade potted flower production base in western China, the largest high-grade fresh cut flower and famous and excellent flower seedling breeding base in Sichuan and a key flower and wood trading market in southwest China. Meanwhile, Leeuward Wanhe Agricultural College of the Netherlands funded many teachers from Sichuan Agricultural University for further study in Wanhe Agricultural College to discuss and communicate on how to treat animal diseases with western medicine and Chinese medicine.

In recent years, the trade and investment between China and the Netherlands have been remained at a high level. At present, Sino-Netherlands economic and trade cooperation has entered a "fast track", further unleashing the cooperation potential. The Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Chongqing, opened in November 2014, is the fourth consulate general opened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, after those established in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Since the beginning of 2019, the diplomatic consular districts have been Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan Province, Shaanxi Province, Yunnan Province and Guizhou Province. In addition to the embassy in Beijing, the Netherlands now has five diplomatic offices in China. (Wang Jinpeng)